On impulse he said, “Come on with me to the guardhouse. I hear there’s trouble.”

They cut to the front of the line for the bridge. The guardsman on duty saluted.

“Are you the reinforcements?” he asked, eyeing Amon’s companions.

“Right,” Amon said. “Reinforcements. What seems to be the trouble?”

“Dunno. Some kind of prisoner riot.”

Amon set a killing pace across the bridge, which cut down on the questions from the Wolfpack. The door to the guardhouse was ajar. Several guards stood around outside, armed with clubs. Amon slowed his pace and approached cautiously from the side. When he peered around the door frame, he saw a handful of guardsmen bunched at the end of the corridor that led to the cells.

“What’s going on?” Amon asked, leading the others inside. “Where’s Sergeant Gillen?”

“Corporal Byrne, thank the Maker,” one of the guardsmen said, only too happy to hand over responsibility. “The prisoners took over the cell block yesterday morning. They have the gate barricaded and they’re holding Sergeant Gillen and some others hostage.”

Amon blinked at them. “How did all this happen?”

The man shrugged. “Search me. This young girl come in looking for her sister, said she was being held in the cells. Sergeant Gillen, he took the girl down to the pit.”

“A young girl? Who did she want to see?”

“It was one of them Raggers what Sergeant Gillen’s been interrogating. The next thing I know, all hell’s broken loose and the prisoners are demanding a way out or they’ll cut Gillen’s throat.”

Well, Amon thought, that’d be a shame, to sacrifice Sergeant Gillen for the good of the realm. Aloud he said, “Who’s their spokesman?”

“That girl and her sister, I guess. We didn’t know what to do, so we been waiting for word from the captain.”

“Captain Byrne sent me to—um—investigate.” Amon poked his head into the corridor. The prisoners had stuck torches on either side of the gate, blinding him so he couldn’t see beyond them. “You! In the cells! This is Corporal Byrne. I need to talk to you.”

“Corporal Byrne? Really?”

It was Raisa’s voice, and Amon nearly collapsed from relief. He had no idea what she was up to, but she was alive at least, and out of Cuffs’s hands. Now all he needed to do was get her out of there without giving away her identity and raising lots of questions they didn’t want to answer.

“Yes,” he said. “Ah—who are you?” It seemed like the safest question.

“I’m Sarie’s sister, Rebecca,” she said, hesitating a little over the name.

“I’m the officer in command,” he said, feeling foolish as he said it. “Truce for a meeting?”